Capsule Hotel & Bookstore

This old house with a wooden structure and mud walls was revamped into a hotel and a bookstore, in the process giving continuity to the public space

The biggest challenge was to ensure privacy for the hotel part while opening up the public areas within such a compact space. Existing partitions were removed so that new spaces could be formed with specific heights, such as spots for reading seated or lying low. There are also double-height spaces where hotel guests can stand erect or move about – eye level above floor level. The exterior spaces are given a revamp to reflect the interior layout.

The staggering platforms make it possible to establish multiple visual connections in the course of a zigzagging route that presents the different areas in succession. The segregation into spaces for men and spaces for women is executed through ten capsule rooms and a bathroom for each gender. Every capsule has a window with a view of the bookcases, diluting the boundaries of this ‘building within a building’.